Different days call for different words

                                                                      Winter 2018

    The word today is NEGATIVE. Two things I’ll never buy again: toaster strudels and Hot Pockets. Three: single-ply toilet tissue.

     One thing I’ll never do again is freeze a cherry pie. Make Christmas goodies that still, on Valentine’s Day resided in the freezer. Marry again. Believe in “fate” again.

   The word today is PERSISTENCE. Since I live with only a gray cat, I am the one who must put-together, figure out, try and fail, try again and succeed. Thus, persistence. Case in point: As tax deadline looms closer, I needed a space for only tax papers. That precluded the dining table, the office table, the “greenhouse” table, the piano bench and the sofa. Aha! On the back porch was a rectangular folding table I bought for the bell choir back in the day. I’d used it once before for this very reason, but it had lain folded up for several years.

     With a new week and warmer temps—even though it rained for two whole days and nights and was still raining as I wrote—I decided to bring that table in, set it up and begin the tax task. I chose to add it to the dining room area, which would leave a path to both the kitchen and the back rooms.
    After dusting the black plastic top, I lay the table down with bent legs visible. It reminded me of the many times I lie down and immediately fold my legs at the knee in cross-legged fashion. I opened one set of legs. Where the ball popped into the leg I could see they were too short for my needs. Pushed in the ball, extended the leg but the ball wouldn’t pop into the lower hole. Twist, turn, jiggle—nothing worked
.
   So I went to the other legs. They cooperated beautifully. Now back to the recalcitrant one. I could feel the hole with my fingers and could see the ball on the stubborn leg. On the fifth try, CONTACT. VOILA!

Now to find a lamp. DONE: In the corner bedroom was a small one with a measly 15-watt bulb. I didn’t have a 40-watt, only two boxes of 60-watt LED ones. Would that size be too hot for the lampshade? I tried it, and later checked the shade. Nah, no extreme heat at all.

Unable--at first-- to open cans, even with several implements

 The next pressing task was to go through FIVE MONTHS of unreconciled 2018 bank statements. Until nap time, that is. The odd thing, my usually-two-hour nap, thanks to many and active dreamscapes, turned into FOUR HOURS! So now, I was bound to stay awake till midnight. Why? Surely I could handle six hours of activity, even if it was sitting at the computer or at the table with a meal and the newspaper.

 Today’s word is BLESSED. Friend Sally who was in the neighborhood, dropped by. We were close neighbors in Arkadelphia in the waning years of the 20^th century. Then, two children checked in with gifts on Valentine’s Day—one in person, one by Tipton and Hurst of Little Rock. One son had called the night before. After my nap, I returned a 501 call to hear another longer-time friend, Evelyn, who was moving to Fox Ridge at her children’s urging. That she—a choir member from my years at Bryant FUMC during the 1970s—would share it with me was thrilling. Hence, BLESSED.

 I wonder what tomorrow’s word will be.

c 2019, PL, dba lovepat press, Benton AR U.S.A.